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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – LCV Victory Fund announced today that Pennsylvania congressman and current U.S. Senate candidate Lou Barletta will be taking the second spot in the 2018 Dirty Dozen list. For more than twenty years, the Dirty Dozen has showcased the country’s worst anti-environmental candidates running for office. Barletta joins Florida Senate candidate Rick Scott as the first two Dirty Dozen candidates for the 2018 midterm cycle.
Barletta is a climate denier and has accepted hundreds of thousands from Big Oil during his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives. In Congress, Barletta has consistently voted against the environment, against clean water, and against protections for the air we breathe — all while siding with corporate polluters over public health and refusing to act on climate change.
“Lou Barletta has routinely proven he is no friend to Pennsylvanians’ health, clean water, clean air, and more, and yet he is still asking to represent the Commonwealth in the Senate,” said Clay Schroers, LCV Victory Fund National Campaigns Director. “Even now, as the East Coast is experiencing the impacts of yet another natural disaster, Lou Barletta questions climate science and continues to vote for anti-environmental policies that make storms like Hurricane Florence worse. That’s earned Barletta the second spot on the 2018 Dirty Dozen.”
“The Commonwealth has the opportunity to create new jobs and economic growth by embracing clean energy,” said Caren Glotfelty, Chair of the Board of Conservation Voters of PA. “But Lou Barletta is beholden to corporate polluters and has been holding Pennsylvania back. Climate deniers like Lou shouldn’t even have a chance at being elected to the Senate, and it’s up to us to make sure he never makes it there.”
Barletta has a dismal 5 percent lifetime environmental voting record. His record continues to go downhill, with his most recent score of 3 percent in 2017 — meaning he refused to stand up to the Trump administration’s continuous attacks on public health.
On climate change, Barletta has repeatedly questioned climate science and refused to support efforts to reduce carbon emissions. He even opposed Pope Francis’ call for climate action in 2015, saying instead that “the world moves in climate cycles” and doubling down on his climate denial.
LCV Action Fund has endorsed Senator Bob Casey for reelection. Casey has been a champion of clean energy jobs for Pennsylvanians, has pushed for action on climate change, and has defended environmental and public health protections.
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Paid for by LCV Victory Fund, www.lcvvictoryfund.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.